A Novel Routing Metric for Underwater Optical Wireless Communication Using ns-3

Routing protocols are crucial in addressing network layer issues for underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC). In comparison with terrestrial routing protocols, new challenges have been brought due to the severe aquatic channel conditions (e.g., absorption, scattering, ocean turbulence, etc.) and the directivity of optical communication nodes. Using an appropriate routing metric is an effective approach to improve routing protocols in addition to modifying the procedures of route discovery or route maintenance. Thus, we propose a novel routing metric suiting the needs of underwater optical wireless networks and conduct comparative simulations with different routing metrics using an open source network simulation tool, ns-3, which is close to the real network environment. We also establish a propagation loss model for UOWC system in ns3 and take directional communication into consideration. The simulation results show that the proposed routing metric has improved the system performance of the underwater networks, which will benefit the development of UOWC systems.